Trouble

In the morning, after a long and rather restless night of sleep, Carina was woken up with an invitation to go meet her stepmother in the living room.

She sighed as she let Anne dress her and fix her hair, knowing that whatever it was Vanessa called her for it certainly wouldn't be good news.

Carina had expected it would be something bad, but she hadn't expected to walk into the living room to see Prince Spencer sat opposite of Vanessa sipping on a cup of tea.

"Oh my, Carina!" Vanessa exclaimed, smiling. "You've finally joined us!"

Carina raised an eyebrow at her obvious fake acting, though Prince Spencer hadn't seemed to pick up on it at all. He was instead distracted by Carina's appearance, his face lighting up as if he'd been waiting years just to see her.

"Stepmother, good morning." Carina greeted, cursing internally at not having had the opportunity to prepare for this sudden meeting.

Vanessa merely continued to smile, unsettling Carina further. "Come on now, no need for such formalities, we're family after all. Why don't you take a seat next to the prince and have some tea?"

Carina tried to ignore Spencer's probing glance, moving slowly and quietly to take a seat beside him. She sensed that he had questions, but she had questions of her own, and she was pissed Vanessa had actually managed to catch her off guard like this.

The next few minutes passed on mostly peacefully, Vanessa inquiring about how Prince Spencer and Carina met, and Prince Spencer relaying the story of what had happened just the night before. As Carina quietly nibbled on a biscuit, she managed to find out that Spencer had sent a notice that he would be arriving only a few hours earlier, as he wanted to officially get the blessing from one of Carina's parents for beginning their courtship. It was a shame that given Carina's situation, she wasn't able to appreciate how fast he was working, and instead felt mostly frustration.

Just as Carina was beginning to feel bored, wondering just when this meeting would end, Jane suddenly burst into the room, looking disheveled, her hair and face a mess.

"Jane! What's the matter?" Vanessa asked, standing up to walk over to her daughter, clearly concerned with her messy state.

Jane merely began to cry, throwing herself into her mother's arms.

Prince Spencer looked on in confusion.

Carina yawned.

"Jane, speak to me! Who's done this to you?"

Carina observed the room carefully. Most of the maids and the butler seemed as confused as Prince Spencer, so it was clear they didn't know anything. She noted that Jane's personal maid was nowhere to be seen, which she knew was strange considering Jane rarely went anywhere without her.

Carina glanced at Marie, who seemed to have had her own thoughts about the situation, and nodded her head.

At Carina's signal, Marie quietly snuck out of the room while the people inside were too distracted by Jane's theatrics to notice.

"M-Mother..." Jane stuttered, playing the victim so perfectly even Carina was almost convinced. "The truth is... it was Carina..."

A deathly silence blanketed the room at Jane's whispered confession.

Everyone who worked for the Rayburns knew at this point that Carina's relationship with the rest of her family were strained, but neither of them would have expected this situation to be a result of that.

"Nonsense," Vanessa chided, "Carina has been in here with us the whole time, it couldn't possibly be her! You shouldn't accuse your sister like that, Jane."

Jane shook her head, tears springing from her eyes. "I-It was her maid, Anne! Why would Anne do something like this to me if she hadn't been instructed to?"

Vanessa turned to look at Carina, as if the involvement of her maid was suddenly all the proof she needed to now believe Jane's words.

Carina sighed as she took a sip of her now cold tea.

She could tell what they were trying to do by acting all of this out. Clearly, they were trying to set Carina up as a bully and a villain, by accusing her like this in front of the prince. By making Jane seem like a helpless victim they were hoping to appeal to the Prince's kindness and convince him to break off his relationship with Carina. She suspected too that if this worked out the way they wanted, Vanessa would, in no time, begin pushing Jane towards Prince Spencer instead.

It really was quite a plan. It was unfortunate for Vanessa, however, that Carina wasn't about to let any of it play out the way she wanted it to.